In Hopes to Win
by Maximal Icefire
Summary: Soundwave believes the Autobots are winning merely because they're teamed with the indigenous species of humans, so he creates little... "abominations" to help learn more about organics and obtain inside information.
1. Day One

This is me hoping that TFP will allow Soundwave to have his little twerps and pet cat. I might possibly do another chapter, but I don't expect to do one. :P I know I haven't worked on any other stories and I freaking promise I'll work on them. Possibly one today. Maybe another in the next 50 years.

* * *

Maybe he should have sent one of the drones to do it, or at least try to find the damn thing by trying to comm. it. No, he had already tried it, and the abomination was not answering. It was scared, he could tell. Even Lazerbeak could feel it; the feline was running all over the ship looking for its master and had turned down too many similar hallways to even properly navigate where it was. For all Soundwave knew, the beast was in the Eradicon rec room… or worse, with the Insecticons… He hoped to Primus the worst possible place Ravage would be was Megatron's private quarters.

He could track the cat, no doubt, but the hard part was trying to pinpoint it while it moved at speeds that would put even the fastest Vehicon in alternate form to shame. Ravage raced past many drones, taken many random turns, even ran in circles sometimes. Few times the cat would stop and Soundwave guessed that it was surveying its surroundings, then bolt again down the hall. This definitely was not how the mute officer wanted to spend his break.

Drones around him could tell that something was off with the communications captain. Usually Soundwave moved slowly down halls, let everyone know his presence, and looked like someone to fear. Now he moved three times the speed of his normal walking pace and his visor was bright with the sight of several cameras that he was keeping watch over in the hallways. Few times he had used his remote portal when he spotted Ravage on the other side of the ship, just to be hundreds of meters off-course because that could not keep still worth a slag. Finally, Ravage had stopped and Soundwave was able to trace it. Something must have scared it so bad that it was paralyzed. Was it Megatron? A group of Insecticons? Did a drone catch it? Not wasting a second, he teleported close to the cat's signal. And there he saw the giant warlord, holding Ravage by the scruff. He did not look angry, thank Primus, but he was obviously not amused either.

"What is this?" he asked. By the tone of his voice, Soundwave could tell he was not accusing him of owning this creature. It was curiosity and irritation. "You don't know?" Soundwave did not move. "Dispose of it."

That was when Soundwave had accidentally slipped. His head had bent slightly back and upward, hurt by the thought of getting rid of this experiment he had worked so long on. Megatron caught it and his optic ridges came closer together.

"So this is yours, then?" he growled. Soundwave saw no reason to lie to him. If he did not claim Ravage, it meant, to Megatron, that the beast was useless. If it belonged to the officer, then there must have been a good reason for its keeping. The silent mech nodded. "Keep this thing on a leash, Soundwave. It's disturbing the troops." He nodded again and Megatron handed the cat to him. Soundwave grabbed it and held it like a sparkling and scratched under its chin. The warlord was confused at this; of all people, Soundwave was showing affection for something. He knew that he had cared for Lazerbeak, but he had not seen him openly display it to other soldiers. Not wanting to ponder on it, the warlord just walked away.

Soundwave's frame fell into a state of relief. Ravage was moments away from death, and he was not sure if he would have lived himself if one of his creations had been terminated. First Lazerbeak's safety was risked when he left him alone, and now this cat. Remembering something, he teleported back to his room to check on two other creations which were recently put online. Oh, Primus forbid those two ever got out… That would be utter chaos.

"Hey, boss, ya found him!" said little red Minicon.

"We knew ya would," said its twin, a blue Minicon.

Minicons were rare among Cybertron, and some had lived on a separate planet almost as large as Earth. Soundwave had once investigated the planet while the _Nemesis_ was boarded there and was interested in the idea of having small look-alike partners to help him in battle. No doubt Lazerbeak was capable of it, but Minicons were like children with their openness, bright smiles, and witty chats. These Minicons, Rumble and Frenzy he had named them, were much like human teenagers. In the two days they had been onlined they were already searching the World Wide Web for things to do, played loud music during the hours Soundwave desired sleep, and threatened to run away from home if they did not get their way. But these two knew better and remained within the walls of Soundwave's private quarters.

Soundwave ignored them and placed Ravage on the berth. He looked at the twins and used his mental link to give them orders to study up on human culture. Both of them groaned, but Soundwave would not have any of it. He stepped closer to them and they cowered under his shadow.

"Okay, boss, whatever ya say."

"Y-Yeah, we'll be good. We promise!"

The silent officer turned his body and looked at them in disbelief. Lazerbeak separated himself from his master and perched by the Minicons. His orders were to keep watch on all three creations. Especially on the Minicons; he wanted them to learn about humans. Megatron would have disagreed with the idea, but Soundwave's reasoning was this: The Autobots had human military as back-up. They might be smaller, but together they were strong. Even that human child, all by himself, had out-hacked the Decepticon's most obedient soldier. Learn your enemies and you will succeed.

As Soundwave proceeded to lay on his berth, one of the Minicons started playing music from his system. He lifted his head to see the two dancing and Lazerbeak flew around them, ordering them to be quiet. Ravage meowed loudly in protest at the noise. A large amount of air cycled through Soundwave's hull and he raised a hand to his visor. Was this what it was like to be a parental unit?

* * *

Maybe I'll make another separate thing about Rumble and Frenzy going to school and learning all the fun stuff about us hoomans. ;)


	2. Scheming

I promised myself I'd at least get one chapter from a story done before the end of the month. And I almost missed the deadline!

So I'm in a brand new school for senior year. I found out my art teacher used to work for Hasbro! Maybe he'll appreciate my cartooning! :D

* * *

Chapter II

The time had come for the two Minicons to take off on their first assignment. After a week of study, Soundwave felt that they were ready to head off to school. They knew the slang, basic history and math and science, even the music. What Soundwave feared was their public conduct. Both of them groaned and complained but they were met only with silence, which meant that whatever Soundwave was going to order them to do was set in stone. Nothing was going to change his mind.

"But going to school's gonna be so boring!" Rumble whined. "I bet all the teachers are mean, too."

"I just don't want to get stuck around all of the suicidal people," Frenzy moaned. "As far as I know, man, we're our own group. We don't fit into a clique!"

Yep, thought Soundwave, they're definitely teenagers.

He looked at them sternly and offered his suggestions to them. He did not care if they found friends, as long as they kept their true identity and alliance a secret. He did not care if the food had tasted bad, he did not care if the teachers did not like them, he did not care if they were given "too much" homework, but he _did _care if they misbehaved and he had heard about it through Lazerbeak.

"Wait, what? Lazerbeak's going?"

Lazerbeak was going to be disguised as a regular bird, sitting and waiting in a tree. He would watch the twins' every move and relay their conduct to Soundwave.

"That's jank."

Soundwave gave the little red Minicon a hard stare, if one could call it a stare. The Minicons were a part of him, as much as Lazerbeak was, and emotions could beam across their bonds like a two-way street. Soundwave was implying that he did not want the use of human language inside of the _Nemesis_ and they would perform utmost respect for him and the other ranked officers aboard the ship.

"Yes, sir…" Frenzy groaned. Soundwave looked at Rumble, letting him know the same rules applied.

"No problem, boss."

Soundwave informed them that they were start school immediately on Monday and they would meet with a counselor tomorrow. The year was early for them, so it was the best time to enroll.

"But, um, boss?" Rumble started. "Aren't ya kinda…?"

A column of static appeared at Soundwave's feet and solidified into a holograph of a human man with sleek black hair combed to the back, wearing a black suit and purple tie, and hands behind his back. His skin had the complexion of youth but his facial structure was mature.

"As you were saying?" said the projection.

"Oh-ho, real smart, boss," Frenzy commented. "You even made it look like ya. Well, if you were a fleshie."

"This form is only used for your own convenience," said the human. "I have designed two other projector devices for you two. You will use them as soon as you set foot off the vessel and then turn them off once you enter again. If you dare turn them off while at school, there will be consequences."

"Don't even worry 'bout it, flesh-boss," Rumble said. "Livin' here is punishment enough."

"These devices are durable, so you will not need to worry about it getting destroyed. But if they are lost, who knows what might happen. They have a ten-mile radius on them, so make sure you know exactly where you are from the projector if you plan on hiding it somewhere isolated rather than keeping it in your backpacks."

"Speaking of backpacks," Frenzy raised a hand, "what about school supplies? Don't those guys have a lot of stuff to carry around or something?"

"We will obtain a list from the counselor then go get them."

"Dude, shopping!" The red Minicon's face lit up. "Could we pick our own clothes?"

Both Soundwave's head and the projection's tilted in question. "Clothes?"

"Yeah, human's live in a variety," Rumble inquired. "Their clothes are different every day, even at nighttime they change clothes."

"Could we get some clothes?"

Soundwave stared at them. He could easily gain American currency, so money was not a problem. And he wanted the twins to experience human life in full force. Getting some outfits could not harm anyone.

"Just do not leave them lying around the base. And regularly clean them. I will not be a maid to you two."

The twins cheered, much to Ravage's annoyance. He turned from his spot on the edge of the berth and snarled at them. They made faces in return and the cat just gave up and went back to sleep.

"I expect you two to be on your best behavior."

"Yeah, yeah, we know." Frenzy waved a hand. "And if we see any Autobots rollin' around, just look away."

"Don't even acknowledge them," the projector emphasized, and then it dissolved into nothing. Soundwave walked out of the room to get back to work, letting Lazerbeak watch over them.

"Oh man, this is gonna be awesome!" Rumble said.

"Yeah, the shopping part is," his brother sighed. "School's still school."

"You know, we should totally pull a prank." The blue Minicon grinned. "We'll spray paint the walls of the school with Decepticon symbols."

"_That_ would be awesome. But let's practice here first. What do you think we should do?"

"Put peanut butter in the Insecticons' food?"

"And risk getting butchered by those animals? Pass."

"Yeah, you're right…"

"I got it! The next time Megatron's fat head gets on screen, we'll start playing music. Obnoxious music, like bluegrass."

Lazerbeak squawked at them, telling them to quit scheming or he would tell Soundwave.

"Jeez, such a tattle tale. Learn to live a little, Lazerbeak."

Lazerbeak's optics brightened. He knew his place, and it was as Soundwave's recon drone. If he did as he was told, he would be cared for and fed. He did not know what would happen if he went against orders, but he did not want to find out. Soundwave was a good master, despite the eerie silence that hung with him. Nevertheless, he had found no reason to turn against his orders.

As the twins tried to make their way to the door, Lazerbeak swooped down in front of them and glared. No way was he going to let these buffoons trample around the base and cause mayhem! Megatron would offline them all for sure, then where would Soundwave be? Depressed and lonely, therefore inefficient in work and fired! All because his "kids" decided to make trouble.

"We're just walkin', Lazerbeak," Frenzy said. "Boss said you could watch us—"

"But he didn't say where," his brother finished.

The metal bird hovered in his place, processing several devastating outcomes if he had let the Minicons pass. But as long as they were in his sights, he would keep them under control for his master's sake.

"Keep an optic on the room for us, Ravage!" Rumble said as the three 'bots escaped the large residence of the solitary communications officer. The cat merely purred, enjoying the silence and being alone.


	3. Disruption

If you want a story that gets updated more often, go check _Pax Gaia_. That story's the best written thing from my mind since _Maximals Reborn_! It takes place after the three live-action movies. It has Minicons, Dinobots, Insecticons, a revived Starscream, and even Cybertronian sports! Every other story is just dragging slowly, so read that one if you want chapters from me.

* * *

Chapter III

They snuck their way through the complex network of vents throughout the _Nemesis_, trying to find their way to the control room. Every hallway looked the same to them; the same color, same design, same lighting… How in Primus' name did the drones ever navigate through this? It was a labyrinth. Thankfully Lazerbeak guided them after many minutes of groaning, fighting, and complaining where their exact location was. Even though he wanted no part of their scheme he was ordered to keep an optic on them. Not to mention he was tired of the bickering.

Eventually they had made it to the large, spacious control room. They quietly moved along in the vents so the sounds would not echo and alert any of the drones. Many of them were too busy, analyzing data and placing it into files and others the Minicons could tell that they were just faking their work. The screen in front of them would not do anything, because nothing new from their assigned sector had appeared. They would ghost their fingers quickly over the keys, sometimes opening and closing some files so no one who paid close attention would become suspicious.

Soundwave was at work at his own station, his extensive cables plugged into the giant monitor before him. Rumble and Frenzy ignored what he was doing, since it seemed to include lots of math. Lazerbeak tried explaining that he was measuring the flow of Cybertronian energy within the planet to detect any new deposits of energon. It required serious and undivided concentration, which was why Soundwave was always the one for the job. The drones below would monitor separate sectors of Earth, so Soundwave was not so overstimulated with observing the _entire _planet, and alert him if there was a change. He would look over it and see if it was truly a new supply of energon and send a drilling team on their way to uncover it.

The boys did not bother with information that they considered boring. They waved it off, leaving Lazerbeak a little angry that he had to waste his breath explaining such a complicated process. They scurried along, trying to find a good spot to hook themselves up to to play their prank.

"It's so damn quiet around here," Frenzy whispered.

"They're all working," Rumble said. "But we'll liven it up a bit."

The brothers grinned devilishly. Lazerbeak sighed. Not even three days of being online and they already wanted to cause trouble. He could have stopped them, but then the boys would not learn. Besides, what harm was there in playing a bit of music during work hours? Once they were caught everyone would just go back to what they were doing.

They crawled out of the vents and ran silently across the floor, Lazerbeak hovering behind them. They found themselves at the base of an abandoned monitor and opened the panel on the side of it. Frenzy slid open a portion of plating on his arm and extended a thin cord that fit into a downloading jack of the monitor. His visor dimmed, focusing on connecting his CPU to the entirety of the _Nemesis_'s speakers. The speakers closest to them had whined from feedback, catching one or two drones off-guard for half of a second before returning to work.

"Any requests?" Frenzy murmured. Rumble whispered a title to him. The red Minicon's visor flashed before the song blared through the speakers.

Many Decepticons in the ship were surprised. Knockout, in the medical bay, had let out a sigh of relief after realizing he did _not _cut a fatal wire in a drone's hull when the sudden sound had made him jump. Starscream was working alone in his room and cursed whoever broke his concentration. Breakdown was in the mess hall with a few drones that were on break and only smiled a little "About time this place woke up," he muttered and took a swig of his energon cube. Airachnid used her own webbing to cover her audio receptors. Some of the drones in the hallways had checked to see if any other higher officers were around and even started dancing.

Soundwave was mortified. He had frozen in the middle of his work, knowing the source of the noise came from his own little creations. He tapped into the speaker system to find where they were exactly. Once he found their location he merely jumped down to the lower levels where the drones worked and extended his cables to find the little troublemakers. Drones had moved out of the way, scared that the officer might grab one of them and strangle them in a hidden rage. A cable found its way to Frenzy and grabbed him.

"Fuck!" the little 'bot screamed. The appendage pulled him forward, causing the cord from his arm to detach and the music continued playing softly from his own body like a living amplifier. Soundwave brought the Minicon inches away from his visor. "Hehe... Hey, boss..."

Rumble and Lazerbeak let themselves into the light and walked towards their master to apologize for their behavior, but froze dead in their tracks when familiar thudding footsteps were heard in the higher deck. Slow and precise... Every drone in the room had returned to work, even if they had to fake it worse than they were before. Soundwave's head lowered. He knew that this blame would be on him since these were his creations. He only hoped his loyalty over the long, enduring years would spare him from harsh punishment.

"Soundwave," growled the sharp and petrifying voice of the once-gladiator of Kaon. Soundwave put down Frenzy and turned to look up at him. His optical ridges slanted down in irritation and his optics had brightened. He knew that the sudden interruption in the workplace had not bothered him too much otherwise his mouth would have been in a snarl. For now it was as it always had been; a stern frown. "What was that?"

The officer only raised his head a little more. He offered his method of silent communication to explain it was his own fault, that he should have kept a tighter leash on the Mincons.

"So it was _them_?" A ridge raised as he found the two little Decepticons staring back up at him in that familiar gaze of fear.

"It was just a joke!" Rumble said, trying to justify themselves. "One little joke! Don't blame Soundwave on this, it was all us!" Frenzy shoved his twin for him to be quiet. He ignored him. "I promise we won't do it again!"

"You promise?" Megatron sounded disbelieving. "You disturbed my soldiers, cost us minutes worth of work. We could have detected Autobot activity in that time! You think you can spare yourselves just because you're new to this ship? I offer no mercy to any 'bot that dares to cross me and the same goes to you!" He jumped off of the upper deck and landed with a loud thud to the bottom, keeping his optics pinned on the cowering Minicons. They moved behind Soundwave in hopes of protection.

"Please, don't hurt us!" Frenzy cried. "We're just kids!"

"As of your assembly date you became soldiers," Megatron snarled as he walked closer. "No matter your mentalities." He lowered closer to the ground and extended his hand to reach them. A thick ribbed appendage wrapped around his wrist to stop him. Megatron stood and looked at his most trusted officer, a foot away from his facial visor. The tentacle slowly unwrapped itself from the warlord's limb and returned to its master's place. "You dare strike at me?"

"He was protecting us!" Frenzy said quickly. "He didn't mean it!"

Megatron paid no attention. He kept looking at Soundwave's blank visor, expecting an excuse. When Soundwave gave none he knew that he was anticipating punishment. Through all of their times together, battles waged and service provided, this was the only time since their first battle against each other in the pits that the mute Decepticon had ever touched him. Surely it had been unintentional. These Minicons were young, physically and mentally, and needed to learn a lot. Soundwave had a bond with them, as he always had with Lazerbeak.

"If your little pests ever disturb me like that again, I'll have their heads mounted in the hall," he said. He made his way back to the upper deck and out of the room.

"_So _lucky," a drone muttered once the door had slid closed. Soundwave turned to the distracted mass of workers and signaled them to keep working. He and his little Minicons went back to the upper deck.

"Sorry about that, boss," Frenzy said.

"Yeah, we didn't know Megatron didn't like Daft Punk," Rumble joked.

Soundwave looked at them and told them that they were allowed to roam around. Just not to be a nuisance of themselves, in case they wanted to be grounded for the rest of their existence. The little 'bots agreed and Lazerbeak was sent with them as supervision. Soundwave returned to his work and inwardly smiled. Nothing like that had ever happened on the _Nemesis _before. These creations of his were going to make the ship a very interesting place.

xXx

I think Megatron's more of a Skrillex guy.


End file.
